About Erasmus+ LeadCareer Project
Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
The article gives an overall view of the Erasmus+ LeadCareer
project. It clarifies its main idea, aims and objectives, which were
based on the research review claiming that in many public
organisations there are usually no clear provisions for career
development of employees and that providing good career
opportunities is one of key practices which influence organisational
performance. Additionally, the article clarifies what is meant by
capacity building in the project. Throughout the article the
implementation of the project through the provision of intellectual
outputs is described. The article also tackles project impact and
forsees some future directions.
Keywords: career development, career, teacher, headteacher
Why the Project: Idea, Aims and Objectives
Today’s time is marked by risk and deep social change (Rifkin
2001; Wallerstein et al. 2013), which strongly influences the work
of school leaders (i.e. headteachers) and other educational staff
members (e.g. teachers, school counsellors, kindergarten teach-
ers). The Finnish study on the future of education (Finska v vrhu
znanja 2030 2014) highlights the fact that the changing social en-
vironment will increasingly require flexible working time and the
kind of educational staff members who will be more and more re-
sponsible for steering their own career development. Moreover,
the educational staff should, for reasons of irregular employment
and employment variation, know themselves well and identify op-
portunities for learning and work, be able to make decisions and
successfully transfer and shift between their roles as students, staff
members, family members and citizens. Therefore it is necessary
to offer opportunities to school leaders and educational staff to
enhance their career competences – meaning that school leaders
should become competent in their career guidance and develop-
ment.
The main aim of the LeadCareer project was to develop school
leadership knowledge and skills for the career development of the
educational staff. It was intended to be achieved through two ob-
jectives: a 5-day curriculum for a training programme focused on
vodenje 2|2017: 5–13
Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
capacity building for career development, and a strategy for imple-
menting the curriculum into the lifelong learning of school lead-
ers.
The need for such a project derived from different research res-
ults and from good practice in other fields outside the educational
context. A cedefop review (2008) suggests that there are no clear
provisions for career development inside many organisations and
that leaders presume that employees will get help and advice in-
formally (not as part of an organisational strategy). Leaders do not
normally assume that their staff members are very diverse and
that acknowledging and recognising diversity in various career
development stages benefits the organisation. Additionally, Pur-
cell et al. (2003) found that providing good career opportunities is
one of the key practices which influence organisational perform-
ance. oecd handbook for policy makers of career guidance (2004)
indicates that policy makers should ensure that career guidance
and development are integral parts of adult learning programmes
in publicly funded education and training institutions. The project
also relates to the two Resolutions of the Council of the European
Union (2004)1 and »Europe 2020« Strategy (European Commission
2010), which highlighted the need for strong career guidance.
In the recent couple of years, the theme of (leadership) capa-
city building has become one of the most prominent and recur-
ring topics. However, despite its increasing importance (also in
public institutions and school leadership contexts), it would be
very difficult to claim at this point that there is a universal defini-
tion of ‘capacity building.’ In practice, leadership capacity building
means intentional aiming at strengthening a certain field of know-
ledge and skills to improve its performance and influence at dif-
ferent levels, usually at the individual, organisational and sectoral
system levels. This is normally accomplished through the devel-
opment of a series of instruments, tool and activities, which can
be significantly varied, e.g. informing, training, networking, con-
sulting, developing written materials, coaching, technical support,
consolidating communities of practice, introducing technological
enhancements etc. The LeadCareer project aimed at five such dif-
ferent instruments for capacity building, called ‘intellectual out-
1 ‘Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the
Member States, Meeting within the Council of 21 November 2008 on Better Integ-
rating Lifelong Guidance into Lifelong Learning Strategies.’ Official Journal of the
European Union, 13 December 2008, c 319.
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About Erasmus+ LeadCareer Project
puts,’ i.e. a state of the art comparative study of leadership capa-
city building for the career development of the educational staff,
5-day curriculum, sample pedagogical material for the execution
of the curriculum, policy recommendations/guidelines and a pub-
lication as a source for relevant stakeholders and the general pub-
lic with the intention of spreading and disseminating the results of
the project.
Implementation of the Project through the Provision
of Intellectual Outputs
The five abovementioned intellectual project outputs represent a
series of documents supporting the idea and rounding up the aims
and objectives of the project. They follow the logical order of the
project implementation and the natural order of capacity building
instruments (in our case, written materials) needed for the execu-
tion of the process of optimising leadership knowledge and skills
in the career development of the educational staff.
Career guidance and career development competences as part
of guidance are highly related to the current European policies
aimed at reaching Europe 2020 targets. The development of ca-
reer competences contributes to and is foreseen as a tool to
support individual career management, supports individuals to
make the transition to employment and between employments,
increases the flexibility of the labour market, supports individuals
to be resilient when facing career transitions etc. The comparative
analysis of national documents as the first project intellectual out-
put offers a chance to get a good overview of the field of research
and the already existing material in the national policies related
to career guidance and career development competences.
In the first part of the study, the eu documents defining Lifelong
Guidance (lg) were studied through desk research methods. This
was followed by the analysis of the national documents of pro-
ject partners. The analysis of national documents was carried out
based on two research questions: What has been implemented on
the national level regarding career guidance policies (with a focus
on the employed adults, if possible the educational staff, in the public
sector)? What kind of trainings or programmes exist in the public
sector that cater for the career guidance of the employed adults (if
possible in relation to the educational staff members)?
In the second part of the comparative study, the existing career
competence models were studied. The project examined Cana-
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Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
dian, Scottish, American and Australian career competence mod-
els. After the completion, four sets of overall competences neces-
sary for successful career guidance and development relevant for
the educational staff members were determined. Of the four gen-
eral competences, the different sub-competences that were found
in the existing models were discussed and then reduced to a min-
imum of 40 sub-competences, mainly connected to the career of
the educational staff. On the basis of the determined sets of com-
petences, an e-questionnaire was used to find out about the career
guidance and development needs of the educational staff mem-
bers at different educational levels. The questionnaire was dis-
tributed to the educational staff of all kinds in schools and kinder-
gartens in different partner countries. After the closing of the on-
line questionnaire, the data were analysed by calculating the av-
erage for each competence and for each field of overall compet-
ences. Needs identification determined the gaps between what
needs to be accomplished through the curriculum development
and what is currently being achieved (also judging the compet-
ences in relation to one another in participating countries). Based
on the results, the partners started to design the curriculum (In-
tellectual Output No. 2).
Designing a curriculum for the educational staff arose from the
analysis of the recent national and international policy papers,
other documents and practice related to career guidance and de-
velopment and needs analysis (Intellectual Output No. 1). The pro-
ject noted and wanted to draw attention to the importance of ca-
reer development competences for the educational staff, as there
were several indicators in Intellectual Output No. 1 showing that
training for the career development of the educational staff has
been neglected in most of the countries. The curriculum is inten-
ded for all those in the educational field who want to intention-
ally develop their career competences. It specifically addresses
headteachers as leaders being partly responsible for the career
development of the educational staff. It is also believed that those
educational staff members who are well educated and trained in
career development are going to be better able to develop stu-
dents’ career competences, as students are the ones who will be
facing difficult and important career decisions and transitions in
their careers.
The 40 important career competences were used as a starting
point for designing the questionnaire, the purpose of which was
to measure to what extent the educational staff have already de-
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About Erasmus+ LeadCareer Project
veloped these competences. In the process of designing the cur-
riculum, this set of competences was likewise reconsidered; some
of the competences were rewritten in a more user-friendly lan-
guage while others, if too similar to stand on their own, were
merged into one. For a substantive elaboration of the curriculum,
the different career competences within the fields were clustered
and for each cluster categories were identified. Finally, 21 basic
career competences supporting individuals in their career man-
agement were gathered in the curriculum. The curriculum was
titled I Am a Teacher – I Create My Career. It is structured accord-
ing to basic career competences, which are arranged in four them-
atic clusters: basic knowledge, self-potential, self-leadership, and
enactment. The curriculum consists of 5 modules. For these five
modules the aims, topics and expected outcomes are described
and at the end of the document recommendations for the trainers
are listed.
At this point, it is worth mentioning that prior to the project,
the members thought of basing the curriculum on dots and New
dots analysis model developed by Law and Watts (2003). How-
ever, during the state of the art analysis, it was decided to use a
different, competency approach, as it seemed more adaptable to
employed adults and organisation and system friendly.
On the basis of the curriculum, the project agreed to develop
sample pedagogical materials (Intellectual Output No. 3) to serve
as a tool for headteachers (and other interested stakeholders) to
help them develop the career competences of the educational staff
and execute the curriculum. In practice, the curriculum defines
the aims, contents, topics and themes. It does not, however, define
the approach, as there are many different ways of achieving the
aims; the approach is left to headteachers. Sample materials sup-
port headteachers in understanding career guidance and develop-
ment, provide ideas on how to plan and train, they serve as a refer-
ence, are a source of stimulation etc. Sample materials are presen-
ted to headteachers as examples which can be used to create their
own similar materials, to be creative and flexible in achieving the
aims of the curriculum. Headteachers as trainers are free to adjust
the activities to the professional needs of educational staff mem-
bers. It is recommended that the maximum number of the educa-
tional staff in a group is 20. This ensures an active involvement of
everyone in the group. Optimal time for each activity is proposed,
but headteachers are free to adjust the length of activities depend-
ing on participants’ experiences and needs.
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Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
The materials were developed during team work with a group
of Croatian headteachers. After the preparation of sample mater-
ials for each model, the materials were introduced to and ‘tested’
with a group of Croatian headteachers, thus enabling the project
members to adjust it for proper use and make final corrections.
The fourth intellectual output developed was the policy paper,
i.e. recommendations for policy makers at different levels. The
document addresses key issues related to the implementation of
leadership capacity building for the career development of the
educational staff. The paper is intended to convince policy makers
to advocate changes on these specific policy issues. It serves as a
specific proposal for action at different levels. The main part of
the document describes the potential use of the curriculum for
different key stakeholders. Furthermore, the most relevant issues
related to underlying assumptions, the effects on and roles of key
stakeholders as well as implications of issues are pointed out. The
use for selected target groups on supranational, national, organ-
isational and individual levels is presented.
On the supranational and national levels, the curriculum tackles
the issues raised by the oecd and eu institutions and governments
in the past. The curriculum contributes to good career decisions
of headteachers, educational staff and students, and can therefore
help improve employability in all areas of the society from youth
to the older generation. Being able to influence and decide about
career decisions is important to prevent burnouts and other ill-
nesses, which happen very often within this profession due to sev-
eral challenges. Good career decisions are important for a clear
work-life balance and therefore for the health and satisfaction of
different people in the society. This has a significant impact on
national budgets, as it results in a reduction in the costs related to
unemployment benefits and the health system.
At the organisational level, the career curriculum can facilit-
ate changes in educational institutions, support quality manage-
ment in organisations and help set goals in organisations dealing
with the career development of the staff. Preschools and schools
were identified as the main beneficiaries of the curriculum. The
identification of strengths and weaknesses of the staff can help
headteachers delegate tasks and activities and plan their career
development better. This leads to a more conscious approach in
leading a career and to better recruitment. Additionally, the cur-
riculum offers a chance to be implemented as a whole or in parts
in other organisations, e.g. at the university in teacher training
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About Erasmus+ LeadCareer Project
courses, headteacher associations, headteacher training institu-
tions. It could also be used by private organisations for further
education or by other employment service institutions, e.g. the na-
tional employment office. At the individual level, by knowing and
using the curriculum, headteachers get a chance to learn more
about career guidance, which enables them to design and advance
their own careers. Furthermore, they are empowered to help edu-
cational staff members develop career competences. Those staff
members who participate in the curriculum learn to take on their
own career and discover more about the basics of guidance, which
gives them a chance to plan and manage their careers.
Project Impact
The main aim of the Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships, through
which the LeadCareer project was supported, is to develop in-
novative outputs and/or to engage in the intensive dissemination
activities and use of existing and newly developed products or in-
novative ideas. Priority is given to strengthening the profile of the
teaching professions, especially teachers and headteachers.
What effect can be claimed and seen in the LeadCareer project?
Looking at the impact of the project helps us judge whether a pro-
ject has been successful or not, to what extent and in what way.
It could be said that impact assessment relates to the process of
examining project activities, supports the effectiveness of the pro-
ject, allows space to be critical, creates value, helps us in telling
a story to different stakeholders etc. On the basis of the rationale
and policy context, resources available, activities carried out and
intellectual outputs produced there, several effects can be identi-
fied at this stage.
At the partner organisation level, the following examples were
identified . . . First and foremost, access to a readymade curriculum
and sample materials that can be used immediately by any of the
partner organisations bears a profound impact. In practice, this
means that partner organisations can use the curriculum as a
source for training programmes and immediately start with its im-
plementation. Also, in some partner organisations it was noticed
that the LeadCareer project activities became related to and in-
terwoven with other activities of partner organisations, e.g. other
projects with similar topic/theme. Increased awareness of other
staff members in partner organisations through regular commu-
nication channels and information sharing was also marked, i.e.
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Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
the topic and the theme became more prominent in several other
discussions apart from the project discussion. It is also believed
that through dissemination activities the sectoral system level was
reached. This will enable decision makers to make necessary ac-
tions for further developments in the field of career development
and guidance.
In Conclusion
At the final stage of the project it can be, on the one hand, claimed
that the project reached its aims and objectives. On the other hand,
this does not imply that the work has been finished. It is the re-
sponsibility of partners that the results get implemented into work
practice and that their availability at local, regional and national
levels is thus ensured. With such a perspective in mind, the project
partners will try to encourage policy makers at different levels to
channel more resources towards leadership capacity building for
the career development of the educational staff. However, a sig-
nificant difference will in fact take place when the curriculum is
finally implemented and evaluated in practice. This means reach-
ing the stage where the curriculum is internationally applicable
and carried out. In 2018, such a training course will for the first
time be offered by the Slovenian partner through Erasmus+ mo-
bility projects.
References
cedefop. 2008. Career Development at Work: A Review of Career
Guidance to Support People in Employment. Luxembourg: Office for
Official Publications of the European Communities.
Council of the European Union. 2004. »Draft Resolution of the Council
and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Meeting within the Council on Strengthening Policies, Systems and
Practices in the Field of Guidance throughout Life in Europe.«
9286/04, Council of the European Union, Brussels.
European Commission. 2010. »Europe 2020: A European Strategy
for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.« com(2010) 2020,
European Commission, Brussels.
Finska v vrhu znanja 2030: študija o prihodnosti izobraževanja; poročilo
finskega sindikata vzgoje in izobraževanja oaj. 2014. Ljubljana: ceps.
Law, B., and A. G. Watts. 2003. The dots Analysis: Original Version.
Elsworth: National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling.
oecd. 2004. Career Guidance: A Handbook for Policy Makers. Paris:
oecd.
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About Erasmus+ LeadCareer Project
Purcell, J., N. Kinnie, S. Hutchinson, B. Rayton, and J. Swart. 2003.
Understanding the People and Performance Link: Unlocking the Black
Box. London: cipd.
Rifkin, J. 1995. The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force
and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era. New York: Putnam.
Wallerstein, I., R. Collins, M. Mann, G. Derluguian, and C. Calhoun. 2013.
Does Capitalism Have a Future? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
O projektu Lead Career, Erasmus+
Sestavek prinaša splošen pregled projekta Lead Career v okviru
programa Erasmus+. Pojasnjuje glavno idejo, namene in cilje, izhajajoče
iz povzetka predhodne raziskave, češ da v mnogih javnih zavodih
navadno ni nedvoumnih določb za karierni razvoj zaposlenih in da je
zagotavljanje dobrih kariernih priložnosti ena ključnih praks, ki vplivajo
na uspešnost organizacije. Poleg tega v članku razložimo, kaj mislimo v
projektu s krepitvijo zmožnosti. V vsem sestavku popisujemo izvajanje
projekta in predstavljamo intelektualna spoznanja. Članek obravnava
tudi vpliv projekta in predvidi nekaj smernic za prihodnost.
Ključne besede: razvoj kariere, kariera, učitelj, ravnatelj
Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik is Programmes and Projects Manager
at the National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia.
mihaela.zavasnik@solazaravnatelje.si
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